I made a massive mistake at Liverpool pre-season – it cost me my Anfield career

Below is a summary of the full article. Click here for the full version from Echo or go back to LFC Live.

A Liverpool signing endured a nightmare start to his Reds careerFormer Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert once admitted he made a huge mistake during his first pre-season with the club which derailed his Anfield career. Lambert, after representing England at the 2014 World Cup, was offered five weeks of rest by his new manager Brendan Rodgers.He ended up taking less than half of that before returning to training, which proved to be a poor move as his ageing legs let him down once the season got underway."My first pre-season, this is one of the biggest mistakes I ever made," Lambert told the Straight From the Off podcast.

"[Brendan] Rodgers gave me, Stevie [Gerrard] and the lads at England [international duty], I think it was five weeks off, so we would come back a lot later than everyone else."But I went on holiday with the missus and kids, and then I went back, because I wanted to be in the best shape possible playing for Liverpool."So I literally had two weeks off and then came back with the first group at Liverpool. I could feel it in my legs.

It was a stupid mistake."I was 32 as well. Then at Liverpool I just felt leggy, I just didn’t have the energy and the attitude that I was in."But I was still raring to go, couldn’t wait for the season to start and thought I was going to hit the ground running, score, do what I’d always done and be a success."Lambert revealed that Rodgers pulled him to one side just five months into his Liverpool career to tell him Crystal Palace were interested in signing him and that he should consider moving on.